Side Swipe
by arisuali
Summary: One night on a mission, Sasuke sees Naruto in a new light. Terrible fic-related pun. You’ll have to read it to understand. Rated T for gayness and Sasuke’s imagination... XD SasuNaru. Review for an 'M' rating.
1. The Beginning Of The End

**Yep, SasuNaru this time =) **

**(*note* Usually I'm fixated on my Kiba/Gaara stuff, but I just finished watching the end of the 'Bring Back Sasuke' arc and I got inspired to write.)**

**Hooray! This is the first dobe/teme fic completed to my satisfaction! ^^ It's loosely based on the experience of a friend of mine who caught sight of a guy in the light from a fridge and fell head-over-heels for him inexplicably and instantly.**

**I'll use her words of wisdom to explain the title:**

**_"It's called a side swipe. You can know someone for years and then suddenly something changes and hits you like a brick wall. Without reason or warning they're wonderful, and you never noticed it before._****_"_**

**This has series potential, so please review if you like it and I might be encouraged to write more.**

**(An incentive: if this does turn into a series, the rating will probably go up because I'd have to include some sex. Just a thought to ponder, if you are partial to that sort of thing.)**

**Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Kishimoto-sensei.**

**(By the way, in case you're reading this and don't know, to save you a Google search, dobe means 'loser' and teme means 'bastard'. They're terms of endearment – trust me...XD)**

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"I'm hungry," Naruto announced, accompanying this observation with a loud yawn. Sasuke rolled his eyes, sighing loudly because he knew, just _knew_, what was coming next.

"Sasuke…" the blonde continued, tugging insistently on the other boy's sleeve, "come and get some food with me…please…?"

"Why can't you get it by yourself?" Sasuke retorted, knowing full well as he did so that he would eventually give in and accompany the idiot to get food, whether wilfully or not.

"Because it's dark! Everyone's asleep and it's creepy with no one about!"

"Has it occurred to you that everyone's asleep for a _reason_?" A check of the clock confirmed this. "It's gone midnight, Naruto."

"That's why it's called a midnight snack," the other said stubbornly. "Come on! Let's go!"

"Argh!" Giving up entirely, Sasuke put down the book he'd been trying to finish all evening and fixed Naruto with a glare that would stop any normal person in their tracks. "Dammit, you're such a pest!"

"So, you'll come with me?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you, you big chicken."

The blonde's only response was his customary pouty-offended-face as he slid the door open and slipped through it, for once with stealth befitting a ninja. Sasuke sighed again, before following him into the darkness. He had barely taken four steps before a whispered voice came from up ahead.

"Sasuke? Are you still there?"

Tempting as it was not to reply, the Uchiha found himself saying "Yeah, I'm here."

After that, there was no sound except for the barely audible tap of footsteps as they made their way downstairs. In the silence, Sasuke's mind kept up an irritated monologue.

_It's bad enough that I have to share a room with this idiot, let alone being made to go on a food raid too. This is stupid. I'm not even hungry. If Kakashi-sensei or the owners wake up then we're screwed. It's a dumb idea anyw–_

"We're here," Naruto whispered reverently, approaching the fridge like it was a holy relic. Sasuke blew up into his fringe with annoyance.

"Whatever dobe. Just make it quick. There'll be hell to pay if Kakashi-sensei finds us down here."

"Shut up teme, I'm not going to get caught," the blonde snapped, taking hold of the handle of the door and tugging the fridge open. A shaft of pale yellow light illuminated his face – the only thing visible in the blackness of the kitchen.

Naruto's eyes shone as he surveyed the contents of the fridge and, without warning, Sasuke felt his pulse increase.

_What the hell?_

He was powerless to do anything except watch the subtle changes in the other boy's face, golden hair swinging forward as Naruto craned his head to inspect the shelves. White teeth bit down on a bottom lip and Sasuke's head swam briefly. And image came into his head of Naruto, skin glistening with sweat, repeating that biting action as lust-clouded eyes the colour of the sky gazed up at him...running pale fingers through that irresistibly soft hair, along those scars on his cheeks, marking that tanned neck with his mouth...

_I could love this person._

"Hey, Sasuke? _Sasuke_!"

"Hmm?" Sasuke returned back to reality with a jolt. "What? What is it?"

"Did you want anything?"

It took the Uchiha a couple of seconds to realise that Naruto was talking about the fridge. "N-no. No, I'm fine."

The blonde shot him a suspicious look. "What's wrong with you? Your face is all red." To Sasuke's horror, he began to advance, hands rising to cover the other's cheeks. "Are you sick?"

"I-I'm fine baka!" Sasuke snapped, springing away from the boy as his body automatically turned defensive.

"OK, OK!" grumbled Naruto, shutting the fridge door with unnecessary force so that the milk bottles clinked in protest. "Jeez…talk about touchy…"

The blonde walked out of the room without another word (although he was still muttering under his breath), leaving Sasuke alone. The Uchiha leaned against the wall, letting himself slide down until he was sitting on the floor in a messy heap.

_Shit. This is so freaking stupid._

"Sasuke!" Naruto's idiotic face appeared round the door. "What the hell are you doing? Come on! Did you fall down or something?"

"Of course I didn't." Suddenly, maintaining the cold, calm façade seemed about a million times harder than before, but he managed it. He had to. "Sure you've got enough food there?" Sasuke added, raising an eyebrow at the small mountain of provisions that the other was carrying.

Thankfully, the subject change was successful, as Naruto completely forgot about the fact that he'd been acting weird, voice rising as he went off on a rant that actually included the words "growing shinobi".

Sasuke offered him his most withering smile from his position on the floor, hiding his shaking hands. His nerves were shot and he didn't move as the blonde snorted in frustration and left. The sound of footsteps on the stairs faded, leaving the dark-haired Uchiha alone with his muddled thoughts.

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**Thanks for reading =D Hope you enjoyed it. And if you did, then please go and check out my other stuff ^^ (Sorry for being pushy, but it pays to advertise... XD)**


	2. Rude Awakenings And Voyeurism

**Hello there and welcome to the second chapter, which legitimately makes this a series! *does celebratory dance***

**I thought I'd take this opportunity to explain some things that may have been a little unclear in the first chapter:**

**Will contain: Spoilers, swearing, angst, more angst, innuendos, insights into an Uchiha's mind and sex. (And yes, the M-rated scene has been officially confirmed, because I have written it. Now all I have to do is link everything together.)**

**Timezone: OK, I understand any confusion completely, seeing as we seem to have skipped forward four years XD Allow me to explain:**

**The first chapter was a flashback, revealing how the SasuNaru situation began, which is important. And the reason we have skipped forward so far is because I, as an author, desire consistency (even though it doesn't seem like it...), and I need this to be set at roughly the same time as my Kiba/Gaara slash (they kind of interlink, you see), and in that Gaara is Kazekage. Which requires a certain amount of skipped-time.**

**Another reason for this is because (dispelling any remaining doubt) this fic WILL HAVE SEX IN IT *faints* And I'm afraid the thought of two twelve year olds...well, I just couldn't. I apologise for my awkwardness and beg your forgiveness and understanding.**

**In this chapter, Naruto and Sasuke are on a mission which involves leaving the village. Normally Sasuke would be qualified to do it alone, but as he is still under observation (you know, the whole deserting thing) our favourite blonde dobe has been assigned to accompany him. Tsunade trusts Naruto to keep him on the straight and narrow.**

**...As far as loyalty to the village is concerned, anyway... *evil grin***

**And now, after that very long piece of explanation (and sorry about that guys, just trying to avoid confusion), I now invite you to read chapter two.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own these shinobi. Ask anyone. They'll tell you the same thing.**

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"Sas-u-ke~teme!"

Uzumaki Naruto announced his arrival to the class enthusiastically, sitting next to the Uchiha with a loud thump. The dark-haired boy merely rolled his eyes in response, hating the fact that his heartbeat was automatically quickening at the other's presence.

"What do you want, Naruto?"

"I've modified my sexy no jutsu again!" This announcement was accompanied by a sharp-toothed grin. "Want to see?"

"No," Sasuke stated bluntly, returning his attention to the scroll in his hands.

"Aw, come on!" An impatient whine broke his concentration again. "You're always studying! It's no fun!"

"Maybe _you _should do more studying instead of practising idiotic moves."

"What?! It's not idiotic! I've beaten the Third Hokage with that move! _And _a special jounin!"

"You knocked them out by giving them nosebleeds. That's hardly something to be proud of."

"Dammit, you're no fun at all!" The shinobi pouted, eyes scrunching up in disapproval. The dark-haired boy sighed exasperatedly, but made no further comment. Looking back to the scroll, he hoped that the dobe would get the hint and leave him alone.

No chance.

"So...what is that, anyway?"

"It describes the art of substitution." Sasuke laid the scroll down on the table, resigning himself to the conversation. "I'm trying to learn. I've never quite mastered it, and I'm sick of Kakashi-sensei using it on me."

"Yeah, the amount of times you've been caught out, you must really hate logs now, huh?"

"Naruto," Sasuke gritted his teeth, "I am trying to study. But, to my surprise, someone is stopping me from doing that."

"Really?" The idiot looked around. "Who? Want me to beat them up for you?"

With a growl of frustration, Sasuke rested his forehead on the table, counting to ten in an effort to quell the urge to murder the stupid, hyperactive blonde.

The more time he spent with Naruto (and that, considering the fact that there were part of the same squad, was a lot of time), the less his sudden infatuation made sense. Because the fact was that Naruto was a noisy, restless, infuriating idiot. But for some reason, Sasuke wanted to touch him – and kiss him and a whole lot more besides – anyway.

"You know that the sexy no jutsu isn't the only thing I can do, don't you?" The dobe piped up unexpectedly, and honestly, the things Sasuke's treacherous mind could read into _that _one.

"Really?" the Uchiha replied cuttingly, raising both his head and a sceptical eyebrow. "I haven't seen you do much besides."

"Well," Naruto's voice dropped to a whisper, and danger alarms went off in Sasuke's mind, "maybe that's just because you've never asked."

Leaning forward, the blonde kissed the dark-haired boy fiercely, biting down hard on his bottom lip while at the same time running his hands down the other's side, hooking fingers into the waistband of Sasuke's shorts–

~*~

"Teme. Hey, _teme_! Wake up!"

Sasuke sat up with a gasp, momentarily disoriented by the sight of a strange room and a considerably-more-mature-looking Naruto about a foot away from his face.

"What the–?"

And then his brain woke up and everything fell into place. A dream. He should have guessed it really, seeing as neither of them had been anywhere near an academy classroom for at least three years. And also because there was no way in hell that something like _that _would ever happen. Even if he really wanted it to.

"What is it, dobe?" Sasuke asked shortly, trying to will away his body's reactions to the dream-Naruto before the real one noticed anything. "Time to go?"

"No, not yet. It'll be another hour or so, I reckon."

"So then why did you wake me up?" Not that he was bitter about having that dream disturbed at all.

"I've modified my sexy no jutsu again." This announcement was accompanied by a sharp-toothed grin. "Want to see?"

Sasuke froze. _What_?

"No," he said, pulling the covers back over his head. "I'm tired. Get lost."

"Dammit, you're no fun at all," the blonde said sulkily. The Uchiha's pulse picked up. This was either fate laughing at him or a really freaky coincidence. There was silence broken only by the thumping of his heartbeat in his ears, until...

"Hey, Sasuke..."

"What is it, Naruto?" the dark-haired boy sighed, pulling the duvet off his face so that he could fix the dobe with his most irritated glare.

"You know that the sexy no jutsu isn't the only thing I can do, don't you?"

_No fucking way._

"Really?" Sasuke said, trying hard to stop his voice from shaking.

"I mean, I've got my shadow clones, my sage jutsu and the rasengan as well. I'm not a complete failure."

The Uchiha breathed a sigh of part-relief, part-disappointment. Dreams didn't mirror real life, not really, and he was comforted to know that. But vaguely pissed off at the same time, because Naruto was topless and he'd obviously been doing early morning training, because his chest and stomach were glistening with sweat. So naturally the less logical side of Sasuke's brain was urging him to lick it off. And that didn't really help his present state. All things considered, it would have been quite nice to work off some steam.

"I'm not," Naruto said harshly, bringing the Uchiha back to reality, although it took him a while to remember what they'd been talking about. The intense, determined expression on the blonde's face took him by surprise. Obviously Naruto was looking for reassurance, although he'd rather thought that they'd got past the stage of needing recognition by now.

"I know," he replied. "You don't need to tell me that."

The dobe's face broke into a relieved smile, which swiftly intensified to a cocky grin. "Yeah well, I figured a reminder couldn't hurt."

If Sasuke had had more energy, he probably would have punched him, but as it was, he just snorted, flipped Naruto the finger and buried his head back in his pillow.

This brief respite didn't last, however, because he was awake now, and so his brain was screaming for another look at Naruto. And the other, more sensible, side of his brain was arguing back that he was being ridiculous, there was no point in encouraging this thing because the chances of anything happening between him and his teammate were absolutely zilch, if not below.

However, he couldn't seem to stop his gaze from travelling to the blonde shinobi, who was across the room, stretching in a distracting sort of way. That was all very well and good, until Naruto – either unaware that he was being watched or not caring, because they were both guys and so there wasn't supposed to be much of an issue – hopped out of both pyjama bottoms and underwear, leaving Sasuke with a view that made his head threaten to explode.

OK, so it had been more than four years since that late-night food raid which had triggered..._everything_, and that should have been more than enough time for a silly crush to dissipate. But despite the time spent apart and everything that had happened, Sasuke had never truly managed to get over Naruto. His feelings for the blonde had been one of the many reasons he'd left for Orochimaru in the first place. As well as a quest for power, it had been an attempt to distance himself from his teammate, even encourage himself to hate Naruto, because even hatred was better than the constant uncertainty. He'd almost managed it too, except...

Well, what do you do after you've exacted your revenge and discovered your years of hatred unfounded?

There had been a lot of consideration after Itachi's death, a lot of memories. And more than he cared to admit had involved Naruto.

He'd stayed away for as long as possible, but in the end – even though he'd betrayed it and almost brought it to the ground – Konohagakure was his home.

No. Scratch that. Naruto was his home.

So he'd allowed himself to be caught, to be brought back to the leaf village and put at the mercy of the Hokage. And despite everything, the things he'd done, the cruel words he'd spat, Naruto had greeted him as a friend, had stuck up for him, pleaded his case, done everything he could to clear Sasuke's name.

As a traitor to the village, he should have been executed on sight.

So in more than a sense he owed the blonde his life.

It was things like that that he had to remember at times like this, when Naruto had not only woken him up from a pitifully short sleep, but was also parading himself around.

_Calm down, _Sasuke chastised himself, gritting his teeth. _He doesn't know._

Or maybe that fact was about to change, because Naruto turned round and sky-blue eyes locked onto coal-black ones.

"Why are you staring at me, teme?" the blonde asked, looking slightly embarrassed, which was understandable considering Sasuke's tongue was practically hanging out.

_Crap._

"I was just amazed by your audacity, dobe," Sasuke smirked, the fact that he was shaking belying his calm exterior (and he was really hoping the other wouldn't pick up on that). "You must think a lot of yourself if you're able to boldly strut around like that."

"Sh-shut up, bastard!" Naruto snapped, cheeks flushing red, which the Uchiha quite liked. "There's no reason for me to be self-conscious! We're both guys, aren't we? Or is there something wrong with the way I look?" This last question sounded challenging, which was a surprise. Sasuke looked at the blonde hard, but nothing about his expression gave anything away.

"Nothing," the dark-haired boy shrugged, as Naruto scowled, pulling on a new pair of boxers, blush still evident. "I've seen better, though."

This smart comment (and blatant lie) earned him both a "Fuck you!" and a pillow to the face for his trouble.

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**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Sorry not much happened ^^; I'm just setting the scene...**

**(That's what the first chapter's for, baka... ¬_¬)**

**By the way, I intended to write this whole fic from Sasuke's POV, but if anyone would like to have a couple of Naru-chapters, then request and I may be able to work something out =D (How the hell long is this going to go on for? Only time will tell...)**


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